Horn of Africa in grip of severe drought

Waeni said the forecast by the Kenya Meteorological Department for a fifth consecutive dry rainfall season leaves her worried.

In addition to Kenya, other countries in the Horn of Africa are also experiencing the most severe drought in decades, leaving millions of people on the brink of starvation.

According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, more than 22 million people are approaching or experiencing a complete lack of food in the Horn of Africa.

Additionally, nearly a million people have been forced to leave their homes in search of food and water in parts of Somalia and Kenya, as a catastrophic hunger crisis continues to unfold.

A statement released on Sept 16 by Kenya's National Drought Management Authority indicated that 20 of the country's 23 arid and semiarid areas are experiencing a worsening drought situation.

The authority projected that the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance will hit 4.4 million by October.

Moreover, nearly 1 million children below the age of 5 and 134,000 pregnant or lactating women are acutely malnourished across the country due to the worsening household food security situation.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, around 9.9 million people in Ethiopia require food assistance, and 2.9 million children and pregnant and lactating women will need nutritional intervention by the end of the year.

The UN agency estimated that 3.5 million livestock have died in Ethiopia between late last year and mid-May this year. It warned that an additional 25 million weakened and emaciated livestock are also at risk of death, which would be devastating for a population that relies heavily on livestock for nutrition and income.